Tan Zhongyi Stuns Ju Wenjun To Win Game 2

GM Tan Zhongyi has taken a 1.5-0.5 lead in the 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship after World Champion GM Ju Wenjun collapsed in a rook endgame that seemed headed for an inevitable draw. She fought on after the time control had passed, but Tan made no mistake and won in 62 moves and almost five hours. The players now have their first rest day, with 10 games still remaining for Ju to hit back.

Game three, when Ju will have the white pieces, starts on Sunday, April 6, at 3:00 a.m. ET / 09:00 CEST / 12:30 p.m. IST. 

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes game two of the match below.

Tan Repeats English Opening, Not Fearing Bad Luck

In the first world championship match between Ju and Tan, back in 2018, the challenger won game two after a draw in the first game. That pattern was repeated seven years later, with one difference—Tan is the challenger this time round! 

That wasn't the end of the similarities. Tan had the white pieces, just as she had in 2018, and chose the same 1.c4, the English Opening.

Tan Zhongyi goes for the English (1.c4) in Game 2 of the Women's World Championship in Shanghai! #JuTan pic.twitter.com/Mo0FQML3rj

— chess24 (@chess24com) April 4, 2025

She smiled in the press conference when revealing that she'd discussed whether such a repetition was a good idea with her team. The interpreter explained:

Before actually making the decision of c4, the team had a little debate, and they also thought about the previous match and that kind of game—they talked about if it’s bad luck or not. It was Tan who insisted on following this plan, and her intuition tells her to try something new, and this fresh idea will yield an outstanding outcome, so actually, she’s quite satisfied about it. 

The games diverged as early as move one, when Ju picked 1...Nf6 this time instead of 1...e5, but—spoiler alert—the drama would again happen in a four-rook endgame.

Ju had an extra pawn in 2018, but slipped approaching the time control so that only 39.f5? condemned Tan to defeat. In 2025, a draw had seemed inevitable until 38...Rf5? and 40...Ke8?. In both cases, after the time-trouble blunders, it was all about converting an advantage into a win.

Tan Came Well-Prepared, But Ju Seemed To Solve All Her Problems

The Four Knights variation of the English we saw in 2025 was following some top-level games all the way until Ju played 11...Qe7, in a position where GMs Wesley So and Anish Giri had opted for 11...Rd8 against GMs Richard Rapport and Fabiano Caruana, respectively, in Grand Chess Tour events in 2023 and 2024. Ju explained it was an over-the-board choice rather than preparation, which was also clear from the fact she'd fallen 20 minutes behind on the clock.

The move had no major drawbacks, though when Tan got to play 16.a5!, threatening a6, GM Judit Polgar was becoming concerned.

She noted, "Now I think Black has to make a plan—you can't just make moves!" Starting with 16...Bd7, however, Ju handled the position well, and, when Tan played some small inaccuracies, it felt like a question of whether the world champion might be able to take over again with Black. Then, when we came to a rook endgame with equal pawns, it looked all but inevitable that the game would end in a draw.

Ju Collapses In The Run-Up To The Time Control

Our commentators were bringing up the topic of the ban on draw offers before move 40, which felt like the only reason the players were continuing, but then Polgar and IM Jovanka Houska began to surprise themselves by finding some ways that Black could actually lose. Ju still seemed to be on track, however, despite her time getting low, until she suddenly played 38...Rf5? with just under three minutes on her clock.

Knowing the evaluation, it's easy to explain that the rook should have stayed active with 38...Rb3!, but the move in the game had the logic of defending the b-pawn while stopping the d-pawn. Ju was asked about the moment in the press conference, and said she'd thought about Rb3 but, "didn’t find any concrete plan, so tried to go the other way."

The move wasn't yet fatal, but, as Polgar pointed out, "the plane is going down—you can still pull it up, but you have to play very accurately!" The crucial moment came at the worst possible time, move 40, with Ju saying it was very difficult to make the right judgment, so she opted for 40...Ke8?.

Judit: "This is move 40—how typical it is that you make a serious mistake on move 40!" #JuTan pic.twitter.com/PLCzf1UJfB

— chess24 (@chess24com) April 4, 2025

The saving move was 40...b4!, when the rook can come to a5 and remain active enough to save the game, but as Lei pointed out, "if Black would like to sacrifice the pawn, she probably could do that a long time ago." That was a verdict shared by our GM Leitao above, who mentioned move 29, or most clearly, move 31, while GM Anish Giri also made the same point on X.

Tan Wraps Up Victory

After the drama, we got a long conversion, in which Tan didn't always choose the computer's preferred choice, but steered confidently to victory. The moment of greatest tension was perhaps when she sank into a 22-minute think in a position where only one move was winning.

Tan Zhongyi is still winning, but it's possible to go astray — here 53.Kd6! is the only winning move! https://t.co/faWJFe51u6#JuTan pic.twitter.com/fKcZjyFCei

— chess24 (@chess24com) April 4, 2025

As Tan explained afterward, however, she'd spent some of her reserves of time on calculating precisely that move to the end, and even if 53...Kb8 still came as a surprise (she expected 53...Rh1), she'd correctly assessed that her position was winning.

The game finally ended on move 62, after almost five hours of play. 

Tan Zhongyi takes a 1.5-0.5 lead in the Women's World Chess Championship after Ju Wenjun blundered in the run-up to the time control and suffered a "completely unnecessary loss" (Judit Polgar)!#JuTan pic.twitter.com/hTFBBf5Kf0

— chess24 (@chess24com) April 4, 2025

Tan has taken over as the highest-rated female chess player apart from her largely retired compatriot, four-time Women's World Champion Hou Yifan.

Being the first to lose a game in a world championship match is a tough blow, but Ju has previously come from behind to beat both GMs Aleksandra Goryachkina and Lei Tingjie in matches, and this time there are still 10 games to go. For Tan, meanwhile, one omen she'd like to see repeated is that the challenger won game three as well as game two in 2018! 

First, however, there's a rest day on Saturday for the players to regroup. Then on Sunday, Ju will have the white pieces in game three. 

The 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship is the most important women's over-the-board event of the year. The defending women's world champion, GM Ju Wenjun, faces the challenger, GM Tan Zhongyi, to see who will be crowned world champion. The championship starts on April 3 in Shanghai and boasts a €500,000 ($540k) prize fund.

Previous Coverage

• • Game 1: Tan Holds Ju To Draw As Women's World Championship Starts In Shanghai
  • Can Ju Wenjun Win 5th World Championship?
  • 2025 FIDE Women's World Championship: All The Information
  • Gukesh Youngest Ever Candidates Winner, Tan Takes Women's By 1.5 Points
  • Ju Wenjun Wins 4th Women's World Championship Title